


Put your hand in my hand, baby.

by cherryvanilla



Category: Figure Skating RPF, Olympics RPF
Genre: 2014 Winter Olympics, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 18:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1195782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherryvanilla/pseuds/cherryvanilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Tanith and I broke up,” Charlie says over breakfast, easy as anything, before going back to obnoxiously chewing his cereal, like Meryl’s whole world didn’t just shift on its axis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Put your hand in my hand, baby.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted at the Olympics kink meme [here](http://olympics-kink.livejournal.com/1124.html?thread=95588#t95588). 
> 
> Title by Starship (it's a great song, shut up).

So yeah, maybe Meryl’s had a crush on Charlie for a really long time. She didn’t intend for it to happen. She’s watched him awkwardly flirt with girls since they were kids and she never felt any sort of possessiveness or jealousy. She had him on the ice and that was all that mattered. Besides, it’s not like he ever dated any of them. And once he did start dating, Meryl was too focused on everything they were doing, everything they were going to become, that she didn’t really pay attention. She dated a few people herself and it was fine, it was fun, but it was never serious and she was fine with that. 

She started paying attention with Tanith, though. It was – a really weird thing because she and Tanith were so close to begin with and then it was like – they were talking about Charlie, like _talking_ about Charlie. Meryl knows more things about him in bed than she probably ever should – things that used to make her blush, things that used to make her touch herself to thoughts of the two of them, even though she felt super weird about it on a number of levels:

1\. They were basically both her best friends and she was getting herself off to the idea of them together. That was completely uncool.  
2\. Charlie had no idea she knew these things so it was like there were finally secrets between them now.  
3\. Even though the aesthetic thought of them was hot and she could make herself come, she still kind of – hated it. Her body would be this hot coil of tension, even after orgasming, and the unbidden thought of ‘but that should be me, not her’ would race through her head. 

And that really had been all it took. She couldn’t turn it off after that. She’d switch the subject whenever Tanith wanted to have some ‘girl talk’, keep it neutral and away from sex, and if Tanith was curious about it she never said anything. 

For Meryl’s part she tried to put it out of her mind. Tried not to focus on the way every little touch would make her shiver now, tried not to lose herself in the way Charlie looked at her on the ice or the way he tugged her to his side afterward. 

She ignored the growing popularity of the two of them, the increased photo shoots that looked like something out of dating site commercial. She ignored the way Charlie would say it could be kind of awkward – the questions on whether they’re a couple. He never flaunted his relationship with Tanith, never even talked about it, so she supposes the assumptions were pretty natural. 

She tried to pull back a little, be more stoic, show less, even feel less. Except the Olympics grew closer and everything was hitting its boiling point. The realization of this moment, the fact that it’s the two of them, what they’ve always ached for and fell just short of last time was slowly breaking down the defenses she’s fought so hard to build up these past four years.  
So she lets herself say things. Let’s herself say what she’s always wanted to. 

“As soon as I became accustomed to skating with Charlie and being able to hold his hand while I was competing and dealing with the pressure with someone standing next to me, I no longer enjoyed standing in the middle of the ice without that hand to hold on to,” she says in an interview and ignores Charlie’s eyes on her. Ignores the way he’d just finished (once again) brushing off the questions of a romantic involvement, this time falling back on the ‘we started skating together when we were so young so it’s not like it was on our minds’ aspect. 

That one’s always stung particularly hard. Because Meryl gets it. She gets its kind of weird to sexualize someone you’ve known since you were nine, but at the same time that makes it even more intimate to her – the thought of growing with someone, evolving, developing into something more. Sometimes she wants to ask him if he would’ve given her the time of day if they’d met when they were older and they didn’t have a history of childhood fights and idiocy and sweat and tears behind them.

Only she never has because the answer terrifies her too much. 

The interview ends, the mics are off them, the lights are being taken down and Charlie’s still staring at her. 

“What?” Meryl asks, skin prickling under his unrelenting gaze. 

Charlie visibly shakes himself. “Nothing. Sorry.” 

She shrugs. “Okay, whatever.” 

That was December and Charlie’s been – watching her a lot since then. Like, more closely than he’s ever watched her before. It’s kind of weird, but she chalks it up to his nerves. Nationals goes awesome, just like they’d hoped, and then they’re in. There’s no time for the butterflies she gets when she looks at Charlie, no time for the way her skin tingles when he touches her. No time for anything but the thought of bringing home gold and being the first Americans to do so.  
___________________________

Charlie clearly didn’t get that memo though and he decides to throw Meryl a curveball the day before the short program. 

“Tanith and I broke up,” Charlie says over breakfast, easy as anything, before going back to obnoxiously chewing his cereal, like Meryl’s whole world didn’t just shift on its axis. 

“What? She’s _here_ I. _What?_ When?” Meryl’s well aware she’s stage whispering right now, because hell, Ashley, Madison, and Gracie aren’t exactly very far away from them. 

Charlie shrugs. “The other night.” 

Meryl eyes him. His shoulders are relaxed, his hands steady. He seems – fine. He seems fine.

Still…

“Are you okay?” 

Charlie meets her eyes for the first time and they’re so blue, so clear and just – content? 

“Yeah,” he says softly. “We’d sort of – shifted lately. Into just being more friends than anything else, you know? Sometimes uh,” he clears his throat. “Sometimes things get a bit too comfortable.” 

He looks at Meryl from beneath his eyelashes at that, holds her gaze. 

Something about the way he’s doing so makes her throat tighten up. 

“Uh, yeah. That can be – I mean, that makes sense.” 

Charlie nods like he’s a puppet on a string. “Exactly. Like – like relationships are fluid? Things can – things can shift, you know. Maybe into something you didn’t – you didn’t expect.” He trails off at the end like he’s defeated, like he doesn’t even believe what he’s saying. 

Meryl reaches over and places her hand on top of his. “It’s okay. These things happen.” 

Charlie snaps his gaze up again and it’s like he’s searching her face for – something. Meryl has no idea what. She squeezes his hand a little, trying to be supportive, trying to not think that this – well, no, that’s dumb. This doesn’t change anything at all. 

“Things change,” Charlie says, voice a little insistent, as if he can hear what she was just thinking. 

Meryl has no idea who he’s insisting _to_ , though. So she just nods, smiling a little, and presses her fingers firmer against his until they slot together. 

They finish breakfast holding hands like that. Even off the ice it’s still the best anchor she has. 

_______________________

“I feel like I’m in a dream!” she yells to him during the performance. Charlie just smiles back, that wide, open smile that has made her breath catch in her throat for so damn long now. It doesn’t stop the surrealism of all this, of how perfect it all feels right now. In fact it intensifies it, and she really does feel like she could dance all night. 

Charlie pulls her close in the Kiss and Cry and Meryl wants him to never let go, wants to press their lips together and show him everything she’s feeling right now. She’s surprised when Tanith’s waiting in the tunnel and even more surprised when she pulls Charlie, and then Meryl, into a hug. 

“You were fantastic, sweetie,” Tanith says in her ear. Meryl swallows and squeezes her close. She doesn’t want anything to be weird between them. But maybe – she glances over at Charlie and he’s just smiling, not even looking tense, just – just giving Meryl a look that she doesn’t even know what to do with. 

“Thanks,” Meryl manages out. She wants to ask if Tanith’s okay, but Charlie’s right there. Maybe they’re back together, though. She has no clue anymore. 

“Well, I’ll let you two celebrate,” Tanith says when they break apart, smiling wide. There’s something almost suggestive in her tone and Meryl’s really glad her cheeks are already red because she’s definitely starting to blush. She’s also confused as hell. 

“Thanks,” Charlie says, leaning in to kiss Tanith’s cheek. And then he’s taking Meryl by the hand and leading her back towards the changing room. 

Meryl makes it through the press conference with her heart beating rapidly in her chest. It isn’t even because of adrenaline – there’s something going on here. Charlie hasn’t stopped looking at her, hasn’t stopped touching her. It isn’t much – just little brushes of his hands here and there, on her arm, her palm, her knee, but it’s a lot more than she’s used to. 

They grab dinner with their families and she feels like she’s on a live wire. Charlie sits beside her and his foot knocks against her ankle. Meryl thinks nothing of it, just knocks him back like she’s done since they were ten, but this time Charlie hooks his foot around her calf. Meryl’s fork clangs onto her plate. 

“You okay, honey?” her mom asks and Meryl nods, throat working. 

“Just a little nervous I guess,” she says softly, laughing and making everyone join in, except Charlie. 

She doesn’t dare look at him but she knows he’s looking down at his plate and acting like nothing is happening, like that isn’t his foot dragging up against her leg, like that isn’t his left hand creeping onto her knee and squeezing, just like it did in the press conference.

“That’s natural,” her dad is saying, “but you two are going to kill it tomorrow.” 

Meryl sneaks a glance at Charlie then, sees the way the corner of his mouth curves up as he moves his mashed potatoes around in his plate, burying his broccoli beneath them like he’s done since they were kids. He first started doing it to make his mom think he’d eaten them and then when he was fourteen he actually grew to like the stuff. 

The thing is: Meryl knows everything about Charlie White. She can predict what he’s about to do before he does it. She can finish his sentences and his drink orders. She can know what he’s going to wear on a lazy Sunday and can interpret when she should just back off and leave him alone.

But Meryl never would’ve predicted his hand slowly, shakily, working its way up her thigh while they’re out to dinner the eve before their free skate at the Olympics. Meryl never would’ve predicted him breaking up with Tanith. Meryl never would’ve predicted the possibility that she’s the one he wants to be with instead. And that’s the only conclusion she can come to here, unless he’s been replaced by a pod person. 

She shivers at his touch, feels the want pool in her belly, and Jesus Christ her parents are right across the table. She stills his hand, pressing her fingers to his. They look up at the same time, eyes meeting. He looks – terrified. Completely terrified. As if Meryl couldn’t want this. As if she wasn’t anything other than a sure bet.  
Maybe she’d been a little too good of an actress lately. 

‘Later,’ she mouths to Charlie, hoping he actually gets it. By the way his pupils dilate and his breathing quickens she’s pretty confident he does. 

They say goodbye to their families after dinner and make their way back to the athletes’ quarters in silence, arms and hands brushing against one another. It’s a pretty nice night actually, but Meryl still shivers. The tension is even thicker when they start down the hallway, unspoken over the fact that they’re clearly going to her room. She really, really hopes Ashley isn’t there. She isn’t and Meryl lets out a sigh of relief before putting her yellow scarf on the doorknob, their predetermined sexiling code.

She barely has the door closed before Charlie’s kissing her, pressing her back against it and ducking in close. Meryl sighs against his lips and tangling her hands in his curls. It’s like everything she’s ever imagined – the feel of his lips, a little chapped and dry but mostly soft. Charlie lets out a low moan and gets one hand beneath her thigh, hooking it around his waist. Meryl pushes up against him, silently urging him to lift her. He gets with the program and then it’s like they’re on the ice, Meryl secure in his arms, the place she’s always felt safest. They don’t stop kissing as he walks her backwards toward her bed. They fall onto it, the springs moaning beneath them, panting into one another’s mouths. 

Meryl drags her nails down Charlie’s back, bunching up his t-shirt. He groans into her mouth, their tongues sliding together again and again, before he pulls back and places a breathless kiss to the center of her mouth. 

“Fuck,” he gasps and Meryl can’t help busting out a loud, hysterical laugh. 

“What took you so long?” she breathes when his face is buried against her throat, mouth working against her skin, their hips a slow grind. 

“Didn’t know we could change up the program,” Charlie replies softly after a moment. 

He’s just enough of a dork to say something like that. It charms her to her core. 

Meryl laughs again, giddily this time. “Never should’ve let you call the shots – you always did take too long to catch on.” 

Charlie nuzzles against her neck, his hand splayed along her hip, fingers brushing bare skin. 

“Yeah, well,” he says quietly before looking up at her, eyes serious. “I got here, though. Right?” 

He looks oddly invested in something that’s clearly a rhetorical question. Meryl narrows her eyes at him until it clicks in her brain. He wants to make sure it wasn’t – that this wasn’t too hard on her or something. “How long have you known?” she asks tightly, a little annoyed. 

Charlie shakes his head immediately. “Not – only a few months, I started – putting it together. But uh, then when Tanith and I – well, she’s suspected for a while.” 

Meryl groans and throws her hand over her face. “Does she hate me?” 

Charlie laughs and pulls her hand away, smiling down at her fondly. “No, stupid. She insisted I go after you. Said she always thought it’d be us.” 

Tanith’s kind of amazing and Meryl’s pretty lucky to call her her best friend. 

“So you’re the only dumb one here,” Meryl teases, her chest feeling ten pounds lighter. 

Charlie blushes and then traces her ear with his fingertips, right down to her cheek. Meryl trembles at the touch. “I got here,” he says again, this time more sure. 

“Yeah, you did,” Meryl agrees, grinning so hard her face hurts, and pulls him down for another kiss. 

[end]


End file.
